


things that will not break

by rqtheory



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Found Families, Gen, they kill me every time, this is... real sappy folks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-06
Updated: 2017-07-06
Packaged: 2018-11-28 11:54:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11417421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rqtheory/pseuds/rqtheory
Summary: "Might be best to leave it, my man," he says, but Magnus hears the same rueful concern creeping into the words which has settled into his own gut. "Taako's picked up on a few signals that the topic probably isn't Ango's fave.""I'm worried about it," Magnus says, stubborn. "Aren't you?"Set before TSG.





	things that will not break

It's not in his nature to do anything cautiously. His catchphrase is the evidence of that. But confronted with a remarkable lack of detail about Angus' life before, made all the more obvious by the small scraps he does know ( _had a grandpa he cared about. Had a job, and none of the adults involved saw any issues with that. Apparently they still don't_ ), has solidified Magnus' vague curiosity into a burning need to know.

He asks outright at first, and Angus cheerfully but determinedly changes the subject. So he asks Taako, who shrugs and confesses ignorance. When pressed, he admits to making subtle inquiries - the odd casual question, mentions of his own past posed purely to observe the reaction - and getting nothing.

"Might be best to leave it, my man," he says, but Magnus hears the same rueful concern creeping into the words which has settled into his own gut. "Taako's picked up on a few signals that the topic probably isn't Ango's fave."

"I'm worried about it," Magnus says, stubborn. "Aren't you?"

Taako purses his lips. His expression is annoyed, but beneath the surface his troubled mood resonates with Magnus' own. "Yes," he says. "But you better not repeat it." He heaves a sigh and drops into a chair across the table from Magnus, who's whittling - something. He's too distracted and whatever's caught within the wood eludes him.

"It's weird, isn't it?" Magnus continues. "He's sad about his grandpa. But he won't even mention his parents."

"Not all parents are worth mentioning," Taako says, almost gentle.

Magnus chances a look at his face, but Taako's expression is shuttered. They don't talk about their families much.

"Do you think it's that?" he counters instead, and Taako's face twists.

"No," he admits, and sighs, tipping the chair back onto two legs, bracing his hands on the table. "I don't know what it is. He's smart enough to avoid giving any sort of details. He doesn't _want_  to talk about it, Magnus."

"I'm worried," Magnus repeats, still stubborn. "What if he's just carrying it around? I know-" he breaks off, breathes, focuses on the wood for a moment. It's definitely a bear of some sort. He starts to pull the shape out, sparing just enough attention to let himself tell Taako quietly, "I know what that's like. I spent a year fighting strangers for no reason just so I could feel something else."

He can't bring himself to look up - there isn't a single expression Taako could be making that wouldn't make him feel too big and too small all at once. The bear is slowly emerging, and the silence stretches, but Magnus says nothing more and finally the soft noise of the front feet of the chair clacking back onto the floor breaks it.

"I guess as long as he trusts you," Taako says slowly, "he'll tell you in his own time."

-

He's assembling a carved puzzle sculpture, rounding off edges and slotting pieces together, when Taako sweeps into the apartment, Angus in tow.

"Maaaaags," Taako says, wheedling, and Magnus hides a small grin before turning to look at him, neutral. "What?"

"I'm supposed to be looking after Ango but I've got a sudden schedule conflict, can you spot me here?"

"He means a date," Angus helpfully supplies, "and I really don't need to be babysat! I'm actually very capable!"

"I prestigitationed your nose away and you cried, kiddo," Taako tells him, and then turns to Magnus, eyebrows raised significantly. "Magnus would love to hang out, wouldn't you Mags?"

"Sure," Magnus says. "I'm just carving though, it's probably not that fun-"

"Ango can make himself useful by handing you your tools," Taako suggests.

"Or I can just read!"

"I'm not interested in the specifics, I've got places to be. Everyone cool? Kay, bye!" and he sails out of the apartment with as much aplomb as he entered.

"Well, sit down," Magnus says to Angus, and pats the chair next to him at the table. Angus takes a seat and props himself up over his book. They sit comfortably for an hour or two, Magnus glancing at Angus occasionally to see him pulling faces which Magnus realises are the expressions of the characters in the story. He keeps at what he's doing, and has nearly finished the puzzle when Angus puts his book down and rubs his eyes. "What are you thinking about, sir?"

Magnus' immediate reaction is to demur, but then he remembers Taako's raised eyebrows and changes tack. "Um. I was actually thinking about my wife." Angus goes suddenly rigid beside him, and Magnus pretends not to notice. "You know. I spent a lot of time being really angry after she died. But now I can think about her and just remember the things about her that I loved. Her hands. Her laugh. How patient she was." He takes a deep breath, but is surprised by how little he feels like weeping. "It's good to remember her like that." He doesn't say anything else, and Angus relaxes again by degrees next to him. (He's starting to appreciate the value in not rushing in to fill silences, at least.)

"I'm... glad," Angus says finally, the dry crack of his throat giving away his nerves. Magnus chuckles, puts an arm around his skinny shoulders.

"Sorry," he says. "Didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

-

Angus is peremptorily plonked into Magnus' care a few more times until he starts coming around by himself. It mostly seems to be a chance for him to recharge from the whirlwind of magic lessons with Taako, but Magnus doesn't mind, and sometimes he does even prevail upon Angus to pass him things, including one afternoon where after a futile exchange of "That one - no, there - to the right," he takes it upon himself to explain the different oils and polishes he uses for finishing things. He doesn't even notice at first that he's dropped a few mentions of Steven into the conversation - Angus doesn't tense up like last time - but when he realises he leans into it, starts sketching out a few of his memories, until suddenly he's been talking about his life in Raven's Roost for a good ten minutes. Angus nods and asks questions but when Magnus runs out of steam, says, "You've been talking to me an awful lot about your past recently, sir. Magnus."

Startled, Magnus looks him in the eye and sees - neutrality, but the practised, opaque kind. "Uh, yeah, I guess? Like I said before I don't want to make you uncomfortable." He smiles at Angus, who smiles tentatively back.

"I'm not uncomfortable," he says. "It's just different to how it was before, that's all. I wondered why."

Magnus puts his tools down neatly on the table. "It's because you're a friend, Angus. You know that right? That's why - that's what the goofing around is about."

Angus gives him a studied look for a moment, then breaks into a grin. "Oh I know, sir," he chirps. "It's because all three of you are terrible at being sincere and dealing with your feelings."

"Hey," Magnus protests, mildly. He probably deserves it.

-

It's firework night in Neverwinter. No-one ever seems to really know what the celebrations are for, but it doesn't matter, because the display over the harbour is widely renowned as the most beautiful and fantastical display of magical pyrotechnics in the whole of Faerun. The Bureau of Balance situates itself within line of sight and most of the members watch it from the big picture window along one of the quads.

Magnus, Taako and Merle forego the Bureau's bird's eye view to head down to Neverwinter itself. Magnus grabs Angus, Taako packs a picnic, Merle picks up his kids and the six of them make their way down to the quay, chattering comfortably. Angus slips his hand through Magnus' without comment, and Magnus doesn't mention it either, but squeezes briefly and is gratified when Angus squeezes back.

They settle themselves on a green slope, Taako diligently doling out cups of wine to Magnus and Merle and sneaking sweets to the kids, obviously delighted by their reactions. There's a smaller, limited show earlier in the night and they all make the appropriate noises and watch the display, enraptured. By this point Magnus is pleasantly drunk, watching warm and happy as Merle noogies his kids and Taako enforces a strict rule about consumption of chocolate coated strawberries (three per person).

It's a brief interlude before the main event, and Angus is leaning, sleepy but awake, against Magnus' side as they listen to various announcements about 'THE GREATEST SHOW IN FAERUN.' It's comfortable and easy and Magnus thinks nothing more of it until Angus clears his throat.

"I know what you've been doing," he says quietly, abruptly. "Both of you."

Magnus meets Taako's eyes over Angus' head. Taako's expression says 'Hey, man, I know as much as you do,' but he scoots closer to them anyway, staring into the middle distance at the harbour.

"What's that," Magnus says, assembling cheese and some kind of cured meat on a biscuit. In front of them, Merle is tormenting Mookie with tickles and Mavis is trying not to laugh.

"Trying to get me to talk about my family," Angus says, and Magnus feels the sudden pause he and Taako make before they both self-consciously resume what they were doing. "You've been chipping away for months." He breathes a soft laugh through his nose, and presses up against Magnus' side. "My parents died when I was little. There isn't a big story there the way you both think there is."

Of course that's when the fireworks start, and Magnus internally curses all the deities of timing and whoever's in charge of the event for lack of foresight. He chances a glance at Taako over Angus' head, but he's busying himself about the wine cups.

"But," Angus goes on, hesitant. "I feel like I've... still got parents."

A huge firework shaped like an enormous comet bursts above the harbour, a shower of golden rain scattering down underneath it into the sea. Magnus says, "You feel like they're still with you? Like, they're still around?"

Angus doesn't take his eyes off the horizon as another firework bursts into cascading rainbow sparks. "They  _are_  still around," he says, and grabs Taako's hand as he leans further into Magnus' side.

Magnus makes eye contact with Taako this time, over Angus' head. Taako's eyes are wide but he gestures meaningfully with his chin at Angus. Magnus makes a frantic expression, and Taako rolls his eyes, slots in against Angus' other side. "Sure, kiddo," he says, easy as breathing; Magnus feels deficient until he follows with "of course we are."

"Of course," echoes Magnus, and he jostles Angus. "Whatever you need."

The smile that gets him is better than the fireworks, honestly.

**Author's Note:**

> Title's from queen of my heart Clare Bowditch's ['A Lucky Life'](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obrOEOhcdbg) which has made me cry multiple times about children I don't even have.
> 
> Everyone else wrote 'Magnus is Angus' dad' and I just wanted to be one of the cool kids. Started out as a prompt drabble and then was real long so up it goes.
> 
> 'Angus has more emotional intelligence than the THB put together' in Latin is the motto on my family coat of arms tbh


End file.
